Quality Improvement 101: The Hard Road to Breaking Habits

First year medical students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine learn first-hand how hard it is to change their own habits, for patients to follow doctors’ orders and for colleagues to change how they practice medicine. Join students in a Quality Improvement elective, as their supportive mentors challenge them to choose a behavior that they themselves want to change — and arm them with the tools to achieve their goals. One objective is to help students grow to become doctors who are empowered to help and empathize with their patients. But another equally important objective is to help students understand that even seemingly simple changes to improve healthcare — for example, increased hand washing by fellow healthcare providers — may not be as straightforward as putting up a hand washing sign. In the end, students realize that changing habits, in patients, family or colleagues, requires a keen understanding of what makes people tick and how to realistically support them. (December 21, 2017)